Postings by Simba's Family

The recipe isn't showing up, Merlin. I would be very interested in seeing it, however.

Finally got Simba's bloodwork results and his BUN is 49, with a creatinine level of 2.7 (which, he is a muscular cat), and phosphorus of 5.2. It looks like it's been caught early, which puts me in much more optimistic spirits. I was freaking out the other day, reading all these stories of cats dying with it, not knowing exactly how bad his was. I'm definitely going to be working hard to keep him stable as long as possible. That Feline CRF website has been really helpful to me.

Thanks again for all of your help, guys. I've been going through all of your links and am finding the information extremely helpful.

I'm really irked with my vet right now, because I haven't even gotten the prescription number from her yet, nor the bloodwork results. I was informed yesterday that the receptionist "couldn't find his file," but she'd call me today when I could get a copy. Medical records don't seem like something you should just keep sitting around anywhere???

In the meantime, I've had Simba on Nature's Variety Instinct cans (which he loves and eats right up), which look to be low in phosphorus. I think that when I get the prescription, I'll be looking into Royal Canin or Purina NF as well.

Simba's been acting his normal self. He certainly has no loss of appetite, considering he's continuing his daily tradition of sitting next to me giving me ~*~the look~*~ when I'm eating. He's been eating and drinking normally as well.

Thank you so much for all of your advice, everyone. I've bookmarked all of your links. I'm definitely going to be calling the vet tomorrow to see if I can get some specific numbers from her. She honestly didn't portray it as anything SUPER HORRIBLE over the phone; just said it was kidney disease and that he needed to be on Hills. I then got online and started reading about it and put myself in a panic, especially considering he's already lost some weight.

A friend of mine found this canned Nature's Variety food that seems to have pretty low phosphorus? Not sure about the protein content, but I've read places that low protein is debatably better for cats with kidney disease? I can completely understand the reasoning for switching to canned food with it, but, of course, canned food usually has higher protein than dry food.
http://www.naturesvariety.com/Prairie/cat/can/HS/beef

I'm also going to look into the Royal Canin prescription food. Besides the fact that Hills' ingredients make me "urgh," neither me nor any member of my family have ever had ANY luck getting ANY of our pets to ever eat Hills, and I realize the number one important thing is getting him to eat. Simba does luckily LOVE wet food.

And yes, I completely agree, Kaci. I'm entitled to his bloodwork, and I'll be asking for it tomorrow. I really need to figure out exactly what his BUN is, and now that I've sat here and researched all of this, I at least know what the vet is talking about.

Again, I really, really appreciate all of your guys' help! I really need to get back to participating in conversations here on Catster. Y'all are all so incredibly kind.

Hello, Catster. It's been a long while since I have been on here, and it's lovely to see that the community is still active. I have gained a wealth of information on this website, along with Dogster, throughout the eight years I have been a member.

Simba's getting older, going on fifteen years old in December. I took him to the veterinarian yesterday due to the fact that I noticed he'd been losing weight, got bloodwork done, and the results came in today. The vet said he has kidney disease and more or less shoved Hills k/d for Renal Health in my face. I'm pretty "urrgh" about it, considering she called me in a rush and kept calling Simba a girl (I had to ask a few times to make sure she was talking about my cat), and I never really got an answer on how severe the disease is, but she did say she wished to see him back every three months for bloodwork. I'm intending to take him for a second opinion to another vet I often go to.

My question for all of you is, I looked at the ingredients on the Science Diet and YUCK! Corn gluten? Pork fat? I'm really not to enthusiastic about what she's wanting me to give him, considering he's been on things such as Nature's Variety and sometimes 4Health (which is still a major step above Science Diet). I'm all for trusting vets, because well, they know more than me, but something seems off about giving him a food that has Corn Gluten in the first three ingredients?

I know that keeping him hydrated it a major thing, and I'm definitely going to be watching his drinking closely. I've had to give sub-q fluids to a cat before.

I was wondering if any of y'all have cats with kidney disease, and if so, what you feed them, or what would be your suggestions??? Simba's really special to me, and I'm really torn up about him going through this.

And I apologize if this is in the wrong section. I was unsure of if it should go in Health or Nutrition.

Hey, everyfur! I just wanted to let you all know that Terry Stanley, the person who drew pictures of dogs every day of 2009 on her website, Dog Days of Painting, will be doing portraits of cats and other furs in 2010! She already finished a pictures of me and my feather sibling, Pickles (who is a Yellow Sided Green Cheeked Conure; yes, that is a long species name).

We are thinking of going to New York in March. We live in Kansas and always drive, so it's a 1,300 mile trip. We've went before with our dogs, but we've never taken any kitties with us. They've always stayed at home and have been cat-sitted.

This time, we are thinking of taking Simba with us. We usually drive about nine hours a day. We always let our dogs out for potty breaks several times during the day, but I'm wondering...how would we deal with Simba for potty breaks? Nine hours seems like an awfully long time to hold his bladder. I don't know if he'd want to go in a litter pan while travelling in a car.

Again, apologies if this seems like a silly question. We've taken cats with us up to Kansas City before, but that's only a two or three hour trip. We've never taken cats on any trips longer than that.